Where did civility go?

The guy sitting next to me on the flight this Wednesday picked up my newspapers without even a simple ‘may I?’, tried solving the crossword, tore the papers with his clumsiness n put it non-chalantly in his own seat pocket…am I just mean or was he wrong?

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At the e4m event in Delhi on June 5th

Srini talked about SIP- Systematic Innovation Plan…Jacob said we must all get disciplined and Shruti argued in favour of going back to the basics..

I like it..

I told Anurag that the next time they have a debate on media accountability and ROI, they should have finance and procurement guys on the stage and marketing guys listening..

I also felt that it will be great to have young planners and buyers talking about serious topics on stage and oldies listening in the audience…why must we listen to experience all the time? Why not the audacity of ideas?

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Chapter 11 is Chapter 1…that’s courage..

Bravo American Express!!

On May 4th, American Express declined to give a pre-approval on my charge card when I was checking in at Ritz Carlton Singapore. On May 8th, the same card got declined again at ITC Grand Central Parel, Mumbai. Both the times the charge would have been for relatively small amounts – INR 20-30K [USD 500-600]. Meanwhile, on  May 7th, the same card got accepted at a restaurant in Mumbai for a similar amount.

When I called AmEx customer service yesterday morning, there was this sweet lady Garima who heard me out, promised to call me back after checking the details and indeed called me back. What she told me, however, was horrifying. She told me I can spend only up to INR 58,000 [USD 1200] on that card and even for that they would need my new financials.

[technical information: a charge card is supposed to be virtually no spend limit, because there is no credit]

Here’s the interesting part. I have been an AmEx cardholder for 14 years, every year I give them  INR 800,000+ business, I have had a credit balance of INR 100,000 sitting with them for the past 2 years or so [used that card sparingly when I was living in Singapore and had overpaid them once] and the card is on auto debit with my bank HSBC.

This is the part that sucks. No one gives a damn to your history as a customer, systems dont throw up your importance to the company, and service reps claim they are trying to help you.

Do I really need that AmEx card that badly? In the era of a dozen cards in your pockets and companies willing to kill each other to offer you a lifetime valid card? Not really.

Is the company trying to help me or would it be helping itself by retaining me? That’s what the lady said – “I am trying to help you”. When they had already lost about INR 70K of my business that went to another bank.

Wake up and smell the coffee guys, and save your  jobs while you still have time. I dont need you, it’s quite the opposite.

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Love this usage of mobile handset as a bodypart…

Smarter Planet..I like it

Inbound marketing..awesome!

Will all marketing be this some day?

Love your animals..love your vegetables…

Cassie loves animals

Berenice loves animals

Amanda loves animals

Niki loves animals

Guess what..PeTA loves animals

NBC banned these PeTA ads from Super Bowl, for being too racy. Click to read.

I love being vegetarian…woo hoo!!

Rise of the Old Currency?

I am beginning to wonder why old fashioned barter cannot be at least a partial solution to the liquidity crisis, which in any case looks like a crisis of confidence rather than one of resource.

Sure, people and businesses which only have their own energy and effort and advice to give [consultants, our own business of communication], may find it difficult to adopt barter, but at least the physical good manufacturers can benefit? In any case they are the guys with the largest liquidity and working capital needs.

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We are in it together..that’s right

Brilliant work by Hyundai USA to calm frayed nerves…and sell cars

And another..